Combat Information

At medium/long distance attacks with various spells, at close uses Crystal Sage's Rapier. Rapier can be parried, which in case of success allows a riposte. Some spells can be spell-parried with the proper shield.

Strategies

Video Strategies

Strategy 1 (Melee)

Since this boss can be staggered, rushing it is the best choice. Running, make sure to move around all projectiles it hurls at you while closing the distance. Once you've gotten to it, hit it as many times as you can, since you'll have a short time to deal any damage until it teleports.

Paying attention to both its Sword attacks, which are relatively subtle, and making sure to be close enough to it that it can't hit you with Homing Spells while staggered is thoroughly advisable. Even if you're using a weapon with good range or sweet spots, such as a Halberd.

Once it begins its second phase, quickly take out the Clone that spawns in the middle of the arena. Taking out the other ones can be done with either running attacks or Throwing Knives, the latter being more advisable. Making sure not to be hit while taking the clones out can be a bit hard, but can be done as long as you do not run out of stamina and keep running.

When there are no Clones, go for the Sage.

Extra tip: Keep your weapon buffed with Lightning Resins while it is teleporting to deal as much damage as you can.

Strategy 1.5 (Melee Rush)

Alternatively, you can try to predict where the Sage will teleport to (generally the opposite end of the arena) and rush it throughout the fight, ignoring the summons. The summons teleport along with the Sage so high damage output is preferable to cause very quick teleports, giving you time to heal and get ready to find the Sage on reappearance. When the Sage teleports with the summons and they all reappear, find the purple magic caster and rush it (this is the main boss, the summons cast blue magic).

Strategy 2 (Magic)

(NG) Casting Magic Shield on East-West Shield allows you to soak up a small portion of magic damage - while insignificant, this can help you to stay alive. Since the Crystal Sage is highly resilient to magic damage, you are advised to land as many melee blows as possible. During Phase 2, it is highly recommended to use an Ember to raise your maximum health.

(NG+ onward) Make sure you cast Crystal Magic Weapon before entering the fog gate, so you have maximum damage output on the Sage. In the first phase, proceed to rush the sage, preventing it from casting spells on you. Casting Great Magic Shield will enable you to block all of its magic attacks at no damage to you and you can easily recast it between teleports. In the second phase you can use Homing Crystal Soulmass (cast between teleports) to kill one or two of the illusions. Remember illusions shoot blue magic! Aim for the purple magic wielding one and you are golden.

Strategy 3 (Archery)

Make sure to have the maximum amount of arrows and a decently upgraded bow before the battle. In the first phase stand behind the left or central pillar to avoid most of the attacks. Mind the Soul Rain as it can still hit you. Be careful and watch your sides in the second phase as the Sage starts spawning clones.

Strategy 4 (Throwing Knife Spam)

Its second phase can be easily beat by using Throwing Knives to take out its clones before going for the real one.

Strategy 5 (Pyromancy)

At the start of the fight, run up to the boss and immediately use Sacred Flame when you have the chance. Keep spamming it even after you just use the spell until the boss's health is depleted. This also allows you to skip the 2nd phase completely.

Strategy 6 (Phase 2 skip)

Rush the Sage at the start of the fight, and hit it til it has around 60% HP left. It's very important that the HP does not get under 50%, because that will trigger phase 2, which will spawn the clones. Should this happen, just homeward bone or quit out, since the strategy is ruined, and it's not worth the risk of getting hit. A melee attack will cause a slight stagger and interrupt it's current attack so rushing up and attacking should be relatively safe. At this point in the fight when the Sage has about 60% HP left, it should teleport under the ground and appear at another place. As you did in the start of the fight, rush him down again to minimize the time it has to do attacks and get close to him. When you are close to the Sage it will try to hit you with melee attacks in the form of three swings with it's rapier. These can be parried, and afterwards the Sage can be Riposted. This riposte will cause huge amounts of damage and throw the Sage to the ground. When it get's up, you should have about 2-3 seconds to finish it off with the low amount of HP it has left, before it tries to teleport under the ground again and start phase 2. If you successfully follow these instructions, the Sage should die in phase 1, and phase 2 should be completely skipped, consequently making this boss fight easier and safer.

Completely skipping the second phase of the fight greatly reduces the chance of getting hit, or even worse - dying. No hit runners often use some variation of this strategy to minimize the risks when fighting this boss. The best thing with this strategy is that you don't need very much damage to successfully do it, although it is recommended to kill the Abyss Watchers, and even High Lord Wolnir, to be able to level up to an adequate level. Also get the Large Titanite Shards in the Smouldering Lake and reinforce your weapon to be on the safe side in terms of damage. It's animation when winding up it's rapier combo is easy to spot, and the Sage is easy to parry, so this strategy should be accessible to new players as well as veteran no hit runners. Tip when parrying the Sage - it's better to parry when it seems "too late" rather than too early since it winds up it's first swing for a counter-intuitively long time.

Attacks

First Phase

Attack Name

Attack Description

Homing Crystal Soul Mass

Same as regular spell though easier to dodge considering the Sage's size

Shoots a laser at the ground that creates a long trail of damaging crystals

Ice Crystals

Protrude from the ground whenever the boss teleports

Rapier Combo

Sweeps its Rapier from side to side twice. Finishes the combo by reeling back, then thrusting the rapier through the player. If this connects, the player is lifted off the ground as crystals sprout along the length of the rapier, skewering the player and dealing high magic damage

Clones

At 50% Health, clones start being summoned. They can be distinguished by their blue magic, opposed to the true Sage's purple magic and will dissappear after one hit

Lore Theories

The Crystal Sage on the Crucifixion Woods trained the Undead Legion of Farron to use magic. As a result there are now several "Farron" spells.

The Crystal Sages are twins and are called "the preacher twins". The other twin is in the Grand Archives.

Notes & Trivia

It is possible to predict where the boss will approximately spawn after it disappears. These rules of thumb work most of the time but the boss seems to be patched somewhat more unpredictable lately: During phase one, if the boss casts teleport near the west wall, it will spawn near the opposite, east wall around an area where there are no crystals. If boss disappears in a corner, it will appear in the crystal free side of the opposite corner.

During phase two with multiple clones, the real boss will again usually spawn at the opposite side of the arena, but this time around an area where there are multiple crystals.

Bug - A potentially fight-ruining glitch sometimes occurs (in experience, while cooperating online) during the fight with the Sage in the Road of Sacrifices, which appears to result from hitting a clone shortly before it begins its warp animation. With sub-optimal connection, the game may not recognize the clone has been hit until they already have entered the animation, causing it to stagger, but not dissipate; while the others, including the true mage, teleport away. The clone then becomes inexplicably invincible and returns to fighting the players; the true mage or the other clones with it will not return, and due to the fact the main mage is required to trigger the warp animation the now invincible clone will never warp from the arena. This renders the fight unbeatable, forcing the player, should they not have a homeward bone, to willingly die to the invincible clone or use the dark sign in order to escape from the encounter. (You can also quit the game and reload in order to leave the boss fight.) (Version 1.04, PS4)

Bug - There is a possible exploit, where the host is able to stand within the boss room without triggering the fight, yet completely isolating themselves away from any invaders. This happens because all phantoms have a permanent fog gate at the boss room, regardless of whether the fight has been initiated or not.

The Sage can't teleport if he has Homing Crystal Soul Mass active. If you get close enough to him before they cast, one or two won't fire as long as you stay on the opposite side of that Soul Mass. Attack while circling around him for an easy kill.

This boss is very easy if a bit slow to cheese with a Longbow/Light Crossbow especially if you have the Hawk Ring. Fill up both of your ammunition slots with Standard and Wood Arrows/Bolts. For the first phase you can snipe him however you want from any cover (ensure sufficient distance so he can't even use Crystal Dragon Breath and Soul Rain) and things should be pretty trivial. When he enters the second phase, run up the little path in the back of the arena. If you stick to the end of the path you are now protected from almost everything the Sage and the clones can throw at you. Whenever they respawn in the arena, snipe the clones that are on your left side first to ensure they can't pull any stunts on you and proceed to snipe everything else from your safe haven by strafing to the left a little. Note that Soul Spears and Soul Masses can hit you when you move like this from your cover to take shots but the damage should be fairly meaningless as you have several gulps worth of estus to use.

At Soul Level 1 you can run into the boss room to the right of the boss and poison mist it through the wall. Then two hand a lighting buffed +4 broad sword and wail on it so that it has a quarter of the health left (but the poison is still ticking). In the clone phase second you simply avoid attacks and wait for the purple sage to expire.

I did not put this guy above Lothric and Lorien mainly because of how easy its doubles are to kill, all you have to do is hit and run. Afterward just smash the sages face in with your most damage dealing weapon.

I'm not sure if this is true, but I've noticed that every time I hit the sage with purple crystals and attacks (the others have blue), it's the real one. I didn't see it mentioned so I thought it might be helpful.

Fun fact: the Sage can combo with the rapier for two horizontal swings and then a quick grab attack in which you are stabbed in the chest with it, then purple crystals are projected from the blade then explode, figured this out when trying to parry this (I was still learning).